U.s. Seeks Help Of Aides To Marcos

September 21, 1988|By Steve Le Vine, Special to The Tribune.

MANILA — The U.S. Justice Department has asked several top officials of Ferdinand Marcos` deposed regime to testify if a federal grand jury charges him with trying to conceal ownership of hundreds of millions of dollars in Manhattan properties, Philippine government sources said Tuesday.

U.S. government lawyers already have questioned former Marcos aides in Manila about the properties, said the sources, who are familiar with the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

One former Marcos official was questioned after being spotted in an immigration line at a New York airport, the sources said.

U.S. government lawyers last week sought Philippine government reassurance that, in a U.S. trial, it would provide documents supporting charges against Marcos and his wife, Imelda, the sources said.

The apparent trial preparation buttressed reports in the United States that federal officials were likely to ask a New York grand jury to indict the Marcoses. The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the Justice Department had cleared the way for U.S. Atty. Rudolph Guiliani to seek the charges in New York.

One top Philippine official said U.S. Justice Department officials indicated to him that a grand jury had been hearing evidence against the Marcoses for some months.

The White House, stinging from the fallout from federal indictment of Panama strongman Manuel Noriega and subsequent failure of a U.S.-backed effort to oust him, had asked to consult first with Guiliani if he planned to seek charges against the Marcoses.

According to unidentified sources cited by the Los Angeles Times, any indictment would be limited to Marcos` activities after his 1986 ouster.

Marcos has lived in Honolulu since being overthrown.

The charges reportedly would involve Marcos` alleged attempt to secretly transfer ownership of four Manhattan properties that a New York judge had frozen in response to a Philippine request.

Sources have said Marcos tried to use and old friend, Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, as a front for the properties. Khashoggi`s connection to the properties was among questions federal attorneys asked the former Marcos aides, a government source said.

The properties are the Crown Building on Fifth Avenue, the Herald Center shopping mall and office buildings at 40 Wall St. and 200 Madison Ave.

Among the former Marcos officials questioned in Manila, the sources said, were his former legal counsel, Ronaldo Zamora, and former top Human Settlements Ministry official Roberto Abling.

There was no indication whether either official had agreed to travel to New York to testify.

One former Marcos confidant, ex-Finance Minister Roberto Ongpin, was tracked two months ago to an international flight that stopped at New York and was questioned about the properties, the sources said. Ongpin is said to live now in London.